Mactaquac Christmas Bird Count

Annual Christmas Bird Count

White-throated Sparrow

The Mactaquac Christmas Bird Count is an annual event taking place on January 1.  A team of hardy citizen scientists brave the cold weather and conduct a bird census in a large 24-km circle running from Keswick to Upper Prince William and Mazerolle Settlement to Springfield.  This count has been done for many years now and the data are collected and compiled by NatureNB, Bird Studies Canada and the Audubon Society.  

The weather was severe this year.  Participants braved extreme temperatures and a wind chill up to - 29ºC.  Being on the road for most of the day made conditions difficult.  Participants observe from their cars but frequently get out to look for birds and to walk through woods, roads and lanes.  Most groups consist of 2 people, a driver and a recorder, both watching carefully for birds.  

White-winged Crossbill

This year we counted 1697 birds representing 32 species.  Both total numbers and species numbers were below average.  This is probably for two main reasons.  Firstly, the weather was so severe many birds held tight in whatever hiding place they had chosen away from the wind and cold.  Secondly, so far this has not been a finch year.  Our fruit and cone crops are low and migrating flocks of finches are not coming into the area to feed.  Many of these flocks are staying well north of us.  That may change as the season progresses and they are forced to move into this area seeking food sources.  There was also less open water this year with the extreme cold so a lot of waterfowl have moved out of the area.  

We did however find a remnant of winter finches.  Note the White-winged Crossbill shown above.  We found only 6 of these.  And, only 1 of the White-throated Sparrow shown above.  We did, however, notice some trends.  The Blue Jay population is high, having seen 164.  We also noticed that the American Goldfinch population is rebounding.  In the last few years the goldfinch population has plummeted.  Not so anymore.  They are increasing now in this area.

Shown below are two charts, one showing a summary of the birds seen on this year's count.  Below that is a comparison of the last 7 years of counts comparing species numbers and total numbers of birds counted.  

Mactaquac CBC 2017
Jan. 1, 2018
Species	Total
Am Black Duck	80
Mallard	1
Common Goldeneye	84
Hooded Merganser	4
Common Merganser	41
Bald Eagle	9
Ruffed Grouse	3
Great Black-backed Gull	11
Rock Pigeon	231
Mourning Dove	35
Barred Owl	1
Downy Woodpecker	7
Hairy Woodpecker	18
Pileated Woodpecker	2
Blue Jay	164
American Crow	88
Common Raven	51
Black-capped Chickadee	223
Red-breasted Nuthatch	37
White-breasted Nuthatch	12
Brown Creeper	4
Golden-crowned Kinglet	8
European Starling	167
American Tree Sparrow	24
White-throated Sparrow	1
Dark-eyed Junco	29
Northern Cardinal	4
Snow Bunting	13
Purple Finch	58
White-winged Crossbill	6
Pine Siskin	51
American Goldfinch	229
Accipiter sp.	1
Total	1697
No. of Species	32

Mactaquac CBCs
	No. of Species	Total Birds
2011	38	2821
2012	40	2469
2013	32	1942
2014	39	1616
2015	38	1747
2016	36	1965
2017	32	1697
Average	36	2037